


Snow Falling

by MidoriKurenaiYume



Category: Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Betaed, Gen, Loss, No Romance, Post-Canon, Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 02:01:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10479576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidoriKurenaiYume/pseuds/MidoriKurenaiYume
Summary: Saber and Gilgamesh's brief exchange after Fate/Zero.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Partially canon after the end of Fate/Zero, however assuming that Kiritsugu died in the war while Saber somehow survived.
> 
> Title: from a Kalafina song (B-side of their 9th single and also part of the album 'After Eden'). It took me a really long time to come to like it.
> 
> Grateful thanks to MimiBlue for editing this!!

...

Wearing thick winter clothes, Arturia looked out of the window, taking in the pure white scenery outside. Minuscule flocks of snow slowly but surely covered the ground.

Everyone was dead.

The Grail had swallowed her cold-hearted Master Kiritsugu.

The duplicitous Kirei had died at Kiritsugu’s hand.

The honourable Lancer had been forced to commit suicide right before Maiya shot his Master on Kiritsugu’s orders.

Maiya herself had then lost her life when the tormented Berserker had disguised himself as Rider, and Berserker–

Her eyes shut abruptly as renewed sorrow flashed through her.

It was too late for pain and regret about her former life. Her desperate and obsessive attempt to change the past had only brought her misery in the future. She forced herself to keep breathing normally and opened her eyes once more.

She focused on the snow – the slowly falling snow – letting its tranquil motion calm and soothe her.

But even that wasn’t soothing enough, because it reminded her of yet another person who had died in the War.

…

Gilgamesh sipped on his favourite wine, one of his precious golden goblets in hand.

Saber had been sitting next to the window for hours now, doing nothing but stare, transfixed, at the snow. It was as if she was mesmerized by it, as if the snow brought her such intense thoughts that she simply couldn’t look away.

And it didn’t take him long to guess what was primarily occupying her thoughts… or rather, _whom_.

He snorted mentally. If that was the case, then she deserved to be mocked for her useless attachments.

He spoke, his tone derisive.

“You miss that ghost of a white-haired woman who always followed you around, Saber? You miss that empty _shell_ of a person?”

He was slightly surprised when not only did she not startle at his sudden words, she also didn’t turn around to face him.

“No, Archer,” she replied in a low voice, gaze lost in the visually infinite distance created by the falling snow. “I miss my _friend_.”

She couldn’t have found anything better to say to silence him for good.

She could have used many things as an answer, but this was the only one that would force him to face his own contradiction.

She could have been more upfront and told him that he had no room for talk, as _he_ missed a piece of clay that had become his friend. But she was not going to step down to his level, and if he was as clever as she gave him credit for, he would understand the message.

Irisviel had been a homunculus whose fate was sealed the moment she entered the Grail War – or even before then – but that had not stopped her from being a person. A person with thoughts and feelings, kind without ulterior motives, perhaps naïve and helpless on occasion, but whose firm personality and inner strength had won Arturia’s respect.

Enkidu had been able to win Gilgamesh’s respect as well. His fate had been sealed the moment in which, instead of being the gods’ instrument in taming the arrogant king, he had befriended him, again without ulterior motives.

Gilgamesh had no right to mock Arturia for mourning her friend, when he was still mourning his own.

As the snow kept falling, the King of Knights and the King of Heroes separately reached the conclusion that, as odd as it was, they seemed to have something in common.

Something as relatable as the heart wrenching loss of a friend.

...


End file.
